Maybe
by ZeQueenOfCards
Summary: No one ever won the game. Everytime someone else lost, it was another confirmation that there would never be a Hikaru and Kaoru, only the Hitachiin twins. Theirs was a dark cruel world, inhabited only by the two of them. Then she came, and there was hope. Maybe she would be different. Maybe.


**Hey Everyone! Ok, so this isn't the promised fourth chapter of** _ **Music of the Moon**_ **, but I had to post this first. I'm working on the fourth chapter right now, but since one of my very good friends is moving away, I figured I'd post the oneshot I made for her as a prezzie :3.**

 **Disclaimer: This oneshot has nothing to do with the story, and the OC in this fic will not appear in** _ **Music of the Moon**_ **. Also, I don't own OHSHC.**

 **Now on with the story!**

 _Can you guess? Which one is Hikaru and which one is Kaoru?_

No one had ever guessed correctly. The redheaded brothers had played their game from a very young age, and no one had yet to win. There were so many renditions of the twins' dreaded game, so many girls they had duped over the years, it just seemed like routine to them now. Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin were known throughout Ouran Middle School as the coldhearted, cruel devilish twins, and that was how they liked it.

Kind of.

Hikaru was the older twin. It was his job to keep the both of them from getting hurt. Ever since their maid deceived them back when they were children, he had put up impenetrable walls so that no one could trick them again. If people wanted to reach them, they would have to win the game.

And no one did.

So the twins remained closed off to the rest of the world, two devils trapped in a world of dark loneliness. It hurt them to know that there were no people who could tell them apart, and no one that cared to try. The girls that lost would only lament their own broken hearts, not knowing or caring that the twins were also suffering from the knowledge that one more person would never see them as the individuals they wanted to be.

They kept playing.

Time and time again, another broken heart, another scar. Another confirmation that they would never be Hikaru and Kaoru, only the _Hitachiin Twins_ , a single unit. The shadows in their souls ran rampant, with nothing to keep the in check. Hikaru and Kaoru, the twin devils, slowly suffocated in their hopeless despair.

And then she came.

Hikaru saw her as she walked into their class, and he knew his brother was staring at her too. She interacted well with the rest of their peers, her striking golden brown hair and hazel eyes strikingly different from the black hair and brown eyes of their classmates. She looked like a beam of sunlight, cheerful and happy, nothing like the darkness the twins had become accustomed to. How would someone so optimistic understand the devils' plight? She would prove to be just like the others, he decided with a heavy heart. However, he looked up at the sound of her bubbly laugh, and allowed himself a little bit of hope, the most he had seen in many years. She was already so different from the others. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Maybe.

Her name was Akemi, he learned. She was from , and was very quirky. He couldn't count the times her actions had brought a smirk to his face, and caused his little brother to chuckle softly. Before he knew it, they were dependent on her sunny nature to keep themselves afloat in their sea of lies. She had brought a little light into their dark world, and they cared for her because of that. Hikaru, especially, needed her light. As the older twin, he shouldered most of the burden, trying to keep Kaoru as happy as possible. Neither of them wanted this to change.

Then they found a letter in Hikaru's bag.

It was signed, "Akemi."

His heart sank back into the waves of despair. The walls came back up. Soon, she would be just like another one of the girls who couldn't tell them apart and didn't care. He was a fool to think she would be different.

Somehow, it was that knowledge that hurt him the most.

He really had no reason to blame her for not being able to tell them apart; he and his twin had never talked to her, instead choosing to quietly observe her. How could he expect her to win their game? It was hopeless. And yet he had hoped she'd be different, that she would be able to tell them apart instinctively.

Best to get it over with.

"Akemi? You sent the letter?"

"Yeah, well my name's on it, so if I didn't that'd be weird, wouldn't it?" she laughed in that bubbly way of hers that he had learned to love—I mean—rely on.

"You put it into the wrong bag. I'm Kaoru, not Hikaru" he lied, biting back the pain.

"Really? I'm so sorry, Kaoru! Could you please give it to Hikaru for me?"

"He doesn't like you, I'm sorry. He likes someone else."

"Is that so? Alright, then." she smiled, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. Hikaru felt a pang in his heart. She couldn't tell. He steeled himself for what came next.

"What about me? I've always thought you were rather cute."

She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Hikaru, who felt that he already knew her answer.

"Hey, Kaoru, she would be fine dating you too!"

Saying those words almost tore his heart apart. As his twin walked out of the bushes, he watched as Akemi's eyes widened in shock and begin to fill with tears. He felt as if the Maid Incident were happening all over again. Disappointment clouded his vision. She was no different, after all.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered softly, a lone tear slipping down her face. Hikaru's vision cleared suddenly as he stared at her in shock, his twin matching his expression. No one had ever apologized for not being able to tell them apart before.

"I am so, so sorry," her voice broke. "It must have been horrible for you guys, to not be told apart. I would not have agreed to date Kaoru, but I should not have mistaken you guys for each other in the first place. It must hurt you guys so much. I am so, so sorry."

She understood them. She knew they were in pain. She empathized with them. Although she couldn't tell them apart, she _cared_ , and that was more than anyone else had ever done. That alone lifted Hikaru's spirits. She was different from the rest of them. She _cared_.

And for now, that was more than enough.

A gentle smile, the first in many years, spread across his face, as tears began running down his cheeks.

"Thank you," he choked out, reaching forward to pull the girl into an embrace. "I shouldn't have hurt you, at all. I'm so sorry," he apologized for the first time. "Thank you. Thank you for caring."

He felt tears drop onto his shoulder as Kaoru wrapped his arms around the both of them, crying softly. The three sank to the ground in each other's embraces, the concrete wet with their tears. Hikaru looked down at his twin, who was smiling through his crying and instantly came to a decision.

This girl, who cried not because they broke her heart, but because they were in pain, the one who had brought light into their lives, the one who looked at them and saw not just a pair of twin devils, but angels struggling to find a place in which they could exist as individuals and not just one unit, _she_ would be the most important person in their lives. Akemi, so gentle, and kind, brought to their dark cruel world a ray of hope; she rescued the angels within them, and brought balance to their chaotic souls. She shed tears _for_ them. She cried because they suffered. And for that, Hikaru would forever be in her debt.

He decided then and there.

He never wanted to see her cry again, be it because of them or someone else.

She meant too much to him now.

Even if no one else ever told him and Kaoru apart, Hikaru knew they would be fine, as long as she never changed, as long as they got to see her smile everyday. That would be enough for him. Their Akemi, their angel, was all they really needed.

And maybe, just maybe, it would all be okay.

As long as they had her.

Maybe.

 **Aaaaannnnnddddd… SCENE!**

 **Ok, I know it's kinda short, but I just wanted to do that scene :P. Let me know if you guys want this to become a multi-chapter fic by leaving a review! Also, I need to know which anime I should release a fic on next: One Piece or Uta no Prince Sama?**

 **Once again, this fic is dedicated to my wonderful fellow strange person. Love ya Texas!**

 **Arrigato~**

 **ZeQueenOfCards**


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